Kamin Lertchaiprasert

Chiang Mai-based Kamin Lertchaiprasert is best known for his approach toward art as a spiritual quest. The first ten years of his practice,
in particular, were based on questioning and searching for life’s meaning. The works that result from his meditative processes present a commentary on essential spiritual truths. For example, his installation Sitting (Money) (2004–06), acquired by New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2013, features 366 papier-mâchéd, meditating figures, pieced together from decommissioned Bank of Thailand bills. The seminal work addresses the disconnect between spiritual well-being and material wealth. While the theme of spirituality is nothing new in Thai contemporary art, with heightened global interest in the topic, particularly among the Instagram generation, Kamin’s works gain a new kind of relevance.

The possible timeless appeal of Kamin’s practice was plain to see in his exhibition, elusively titled “ ” (though it’s listed as “Emptiness” on the gallery’s website), at Chan + Hori Contemporary. The show was presented as a follow-up to Kamin’s outdoor sculpture, The Ground (2018), created for Singapore’s first year-long art festival DISINI at the art compound Gillman Barracks. Comprising three life-sized papier-mâché sculptures of a tree trunk, elephant and figure in mediation, each held in transparent vitrines, which were arranged in an eight-meter-high stack, the installation comments on the interdependence between man and nature, implying that excessive consumption disrupts natural order and empties our human existence of spiritual connection.

“ ” took the topics of environmental awareness and spirituality addressed in The Ground and built on them, offering visitors an inside look into the thinking behind the work. Curated by Khairuddin Hori, the exhibition was a mish-mash of Kamin’s recent paintings, sculptures, video installations and works on paper. Walking into the show was akin to stepping into the artist’s mind—the works on view were raw and full of the unrepressed vitality that you rarely witness in gallery exhibitions housed within pristine, white-walled spaces.
The gallery’s press release reinforces how Kamin sees art, at its core, as a ritualistic practice aimed at the achievement of a greater understanding of oneself, nature, and the world as a whole. This was reflected in the brusque marks of the show’s paper works and canvases, seemingly created in a process of meditation. But while making these images may have been cathartic for the artist, for visitors, they were unsettling in the least. With its jarring shifts from canvases filled with fierce, black brushwork to completely blank ones featuring tiny illustrations of detailed human figures, and sculptures placed in the middle of the space, both the exhibition’s presentation and works left visitors with an unfathomable sense of the uncanny.

A large acrylic-on-canvas painting, Beyond Duality (2015), features swooping brushstrokes and jutted out from the wall facing the entrance, introducing viewers to the dynamism of the exhibition. Nearby was Symbolic of Emptiness (2018)—a 12-meter-wide work with words and symbols painted in similar brushstrokes on A4 sheets of paper, stretching across the room. The word “Ego,” scrawled on one of the panels, caught one’s attention—the text
was an explicit revelation of a dilemma that plagues our inner subconscious, in this case, grappling with one’s ego.

The exhibition was evidently not content to let viewers rest easy. Subtly nestled among the calligraphic marks of the other canvases were miniscule figures, such as a man meditating, bringing to mind the figure in The Ground. These were followed by a series of paintings, blank save for insect-sized portraits. The works evoked the sense of smallness, as if humanity is devoid of something that cannot be named.

Further along the show was a life-sized sculpture of a human figure, wearing threadbare clothes and grinning at a high-resolution screen displaying the sun on the horizon, green fields spread before it. The sculpture looked realistic enough that, for a second, it may be mistaken for a fellow viewer. But then again, maybe the figure is about as lively as any one of us who spends most of our time staring at screens, increasingly oblivious to human experiences, such as connecting with one another or enjoying nature, to name a few.

The exhibition was disturbing if only because as a civilization and an art community we have forgotten how to appreciate art that jolts us. Perhaps one could even say that artists and curators have lost touch with art that disturbs, falsely mistaking controversy for works that provoke chilling reflections on our own subconscious thoughts—and that is why Kamin’s work will find its way past the white noise of Instagram spirituality and new-age quotes to reach our most quietly hidden impulses years from now.